


Legendary Coffee | KLANCE |

by spxcedxddy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spxcedxddy/pseuds/spxcedxddy
Summary: Legendary Coffee is an up and coming coffee shop and Lance, under discovering Keith was employed at the shop now intends to bug Keith until it ends him.At least until he took one sip of some legendary coffee.





	1. Chapter 1

Pidge is the one who told Lance about the job.

The two of them had been sitting around and trying to study for their upcoming test in their Stars and Galaxies class. Lance liked the class, but learning all of the constellations in the Milky Way galaxy alone was quite a task. Pidge had seemed to master the subject so Lance had asked them to tutor Lance and help him study.

Long story short, after three hours of studying, Lance still unable to tell the difference between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. It shouldn’t have been that hard. One was big and the other was little.

“This is hopeless,” Lance said throwing his pencil down on the table in frustration. “Why do we even need this class?”

Pidge looked up from their text book and looked a little disheveled, mainly out of frustration from having to teach Lance the mere basics they’d been learning in class for months. “You’re the one who is choosing to want to be an astronaut.” Pidge rolled their eyes. “And you have to major in physical science.”

Lance pouted. “I hate this class.” 

“And I hate tutoring you,” Pidge said with another eye roll. “It looks like we both have problems.” The hazel eyed student stood up from their seat and shut the astronomy book closed. “I’m heading out. My time is up.”

Lance gasped, a bit overdramatically. That long couldn’t have possibly passed already. “Oh, Pidge c’mon!” Lance complained, looking at his friend desperately. “I really need help in this class.”

Pidge shrugged, helplessly. “Sorry Lance,” Pidge said, not even close to sounding sorry. “I gotta run. My brother just returned home for vacation, I haven’t seen him in over a year.”

Lance sighed and nodded his head, closing up his notebook and packing up the notecards that Pidge had made him to help him out to study. Lance was going to study that night, he had to pass this next test no matter what.

“Wanna walk with me?” they asked as they put their backpack over their shoulder. “I’m gonna walk to the coffee shop across the street before going to the bus station.”

Lance blinked. “I didn’t know you liked coffee,” he commented as he continued to pack up his stuff.

Lance had actually known Pidge since high school. The two of them were pretty close friends, but for as long as Lance knew them, Pidge was not one to drink coffee.

“I don’t,” Pidge responded and grinned as Lance finished up and tossed his backpack over his shoulder. “I’m going cause Keith started his job at the coffee shop today.”

Lance’s heart stopped at those words. 

Keith Kogane. Lance _despised_ him.

Lance and Keith had been rival enemies since day one, Lance wasn’t sure what exactly started this rival. His friends Pidge and Hunk insisted that this rivalry was all in his head but Lance _knew_ it was there and he knew that Keith knew it was there. The two of them were sworn enemies. It had always been like this and it would _always_ be like this.

No matter how attractive he did look in his stupid red motorcycle jacket and his ugly mullet and his pretty sparkling eyes. Lance did not give a damn about those details, though, because Keith Kogane was the _enemy_.

Not to mention Lance was ten times hotter than Keith could ever dream to be. 

“I didn’t know Keith got a job,” Lance said, casually. 

Pidge started to walk out of the library. “He brought it up this morning. We all met up at breakfast, you didn’t know this because you overslept,” Pidge said as a matter of fact.

Lance gaped at Pidge. “I’m sorry,” he said as Pidge held the door open for him as he stepped outside into the quad. “Do you think that this beauty comes on it’s own?” Lance gestures to his own face. “I have to _earn_ it.”

“And I see you still haven’t,” Pidge said with a nod of their head. “You poor child.”

Lance held back his crude remarks to the younger student. Pidge was only a year younger than Lance, but thanks to their advanced level of thinking, Pidge was able to pull off calling Lance a child. Lance couldn’t even complain, after all he was the one who still didn’t understand basic astronomy.

As the two friends walked over to the coffee shop, Lance found himself asking more and more questions, hoping to pry some answers out of Pidge about Keith. This wasn’t different from their usual conversations.

“He got the job from his mom.” Pidge glanced at Lance. “You remember her, right?” 

Lance did remember her. She had been severely nice to him and everyone in their friend group. She was such a sweet woman and Lance had a feeling if she wanted to, she would kill anyone who dared to hurt her son.

“Krolia, right?” Lance asked looking both ways as the two crossed the street together. “Yeah, kind of.”

If Lance hadn’t known any better, it almost looked as if Pidge was smirking at him. “Uh huh. That’s right.” Pidge continued to walk. “Well she opened up the coffee place not too long back and Keith is a barista there.”

Lance smiled and nodded his head, his excitement for wanting to tease Keith endlessly over his job burning through him now. Pidge pointed out the place and Lance saw the sign that just said _Legendary Coffee_ and Lance found himself walking a little faster as he walked through the door.

There was a couple of people in the place when Lance scanned around but the people weren’t what caught his attention, it was the establishment itself.

The ceiling was painted black and there was little lights that were shining brightly in the shape of stars. It lit up the place and here were lamps above each table with space designs on the lap covers. The tiles were sparkling black and shone and the vinyl silver and green booths stood out against the wall. Not to mention the center round tables which fascinated Lance, they were shaped like UFO’s.

Lance gasped as he looked around in shock and stopped as he found himself looking at the counter where he saw Keith Kogane himself in the flesh. His mullet hair pulled back into a small ponytail as he was making some sort of coffee. There was a display case of breads at the counter that looked amazing but Lance only had his focus on Keith. Keith always seemed to have Lance’s focus.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Keith asked, walking out from behind the counter, finally noticing Lance. He was wearing a black apron with an odd style like a spacesuit on the apron.

Lance shook his head, pulling himself out of the trance he was in and put himself back into his confident personality once again and grinned as he walked over to the counter, Pidge now out of sight weirdly but Lance had no time to pay attention to that little detail.

“Well hello to you too, handsome,” Lance said with an eye roll, leaning himself against the counter.

Keith made a face and pulled out a notepad out of one of the pockets of his apron. Lance found himself admiring every movement he made and he it took him a moment for him to realize that Keith was talking to him.

Keith snapped his fingers under Lance's nose. “Hello?” Keith waved his hand in front of Lance’s face. “Earth to Lance? Do you copy?” 

Lance smacked Keith’s hand out of his face and onto the the counter. “Did I scare you?” Lance said, grinning like he had orchestrated the plan.

“No,” Keith said without hesitation. “I was hoping you would’ve been brain dead and I could’ve gotten away without having to see you ever again.” There was a moment of silence, Lance looking at Keith, a bit offended by his words. Keith sighed. “I’m kidding.” His pen hovered over his notepad. “What do you want to order?” 

Lance thought for a moment, his eyes looking up at a menu that was behind Keith. “Uh… what do you have?” he asked after a moment looking back at Keith.

Keith’s dark eyes stared at Lance and a look passed over his features, like that was the dumbest thing question he had ever heard in the past twenty years of being alive. “Coffee,” Keith responded.

Lance flared at Keith. “I got that,” he said. “What kind of coffee do you have?”

“The kind you drink.”

“You think you’re a real smart guy don’t you, Kogane?”

Keith shrugged and put his notepad away. “Let me just surprise you. You can have it on me.” Keith turned away from him and grabbed a large cup silently.

Lance wanted to argue but he got instantly distracted once again, watching as Keith began to grind up coffee beans and create the drink for Lance. _You can have it on me_.

If Lance didn’t know any better, he would have assumed Keith was flirting with him. Lance didn’t know any better though and had a feeling Keith was just doing a nice friendly gesture. The two may have been enemies but they still hung out in the same friend group, not to mention that the two of them were majoring in the same subject and had the same end goal.

To travel to space.

To see beyond their little planet.

“I didn’t know you drank coffee,” Keith said, breaking the silence. His eyes were fixated on the drink he was making Lance.

“I don’t…” Lance said with a shrug, glancing behind him towards the door, still not having returned from whatever they were doing. “Pidge told me about the job and I thought it would be cool to come check out the place.” Lance looked around once again, admiring the scenery. “It’s really cool.” 

Keith nodded his head. “Thanks. Shiro helped my mom design the place.”

Takashi Shirogane. He was a close family friend of Keith’s and took care of him after Keith’s father died when he was only a child. His mother only recently came back into his life but Lance knew he was having a difficult time trying to keep up with everything in his life.

“Well it looks pretty awesome,” Lance continued to compliment. “It’s pretty unique. Do you guys have some really funny names for your drinks?”

Keith smiled a bit, glancing at Lance. “You tell me. Shiro came up with more than half the names on the menu, Adam came up with the other half.”

Lance grinned and nodded his head looking at the menu naming off some of the drinks The Milky Way (milkshake), Halley’s Mocha (a frappuccino, Lance got a kick out of that one), Asteroid Brew (a cold brew), and the list went on. They were all terrible and Lance had a feeling that Keith was the real culprit behind most of these.

And Adam. Lance had only met Shiro’s fiancé a few times but that man had the tendency to make terrible puns.

“These are all terrible,” Lance concluded. “Next time try harder.”

“Shut up.”

Keith handed Lance over a drink that was covered in whipped cream and had a caramel drizzle over the top. Lance admired the delicacy that went into creating the drink. Lance looked at Keith. “What is this one called?”

Keith shrugged his shoulders. “I never named it. It’s something I usually make myself. A secret off the menu item.” He smiled at Lance. “Try it.”

So, Lance did and instantly the Cuban boy found himself being overwhelmed by the amount of caffeine that the drink seemed to contain along with the amount of sugar. It tasted _delicious_. Lance looked over at Keith who was watching him in anticipation for his reaction and Lance tilted his head a bit. “This is really strong,” Lance admitted.  

“Yeah,” Keith said with a nod of his head grinning. “I know. It’s supposed to be like that.” Keith turned his attention away from Lance as another customer walked into the building. It was a couple of students clearly having just gotten out of their most recent class. Keith led them over to a booth and started taking their orders. Lance looked down at his coffee cup and smiled lightly. 

Keith may have not been the greatest at holding conversations, he may have also been Lance’s so-called “rival”, but Lance had a feeling he was going to end up coming to _Legendary Coffee_ a lot more often than he probably would ever admit to.

* * *

Months had gone by at this point since Keith got his job at _Legendary Coffee_ . It had been months since Lance started making his daily rounds to _Legendary Coffee_ before and after class. After two months of doing it he even earned himself a job there. Krolia had noticed how much time Lance spent at the coffee shop and thought it was appropriate to let Lance try to work there for some time. Not that Keith minded, in fact at this point Keith really didn’t mind when Lance made his way over in the morning or when his mom asked the two of them to lock up the shop for her. Keith had been pretty much _wanting_ to get closer to Lance ever since the two of them met each other at their first day of their Stars and Galaxies class back in August. Now it was easier, and Keith found himself thanking whatever higher being was out there looking out for him.

It wasn’t that Keith found Lance _cute_ , because Lance McClain was not _cute_ . He was attractive in some forms but that wasn’t why Keith didn’t mind Lance. Lance was just the only person who _listened_ to Keith. Shiro listened to Keith, sure, but Keith didn’t realize how much he needed a friend his age. Someone he could confide in and call his ‘best friend’. Lance still acted strange around Keith, for sure, acting very competitive regarding grades and such, but the two of them got along extremely well. Lance would even flirt with Keith, which was odd enough on it’s own but in reality…

… Keith _liked_ when Lance flirted with him.

It just _fit._

It was December, the last day of the semester before everyone went on break. Lance had announced earlier that week and said he wasn’t going to be able to make it after class but wanted to make one more round in the morning to _Legendary Coffee_ , for one last time.

“I’m flying home for the holidays,” Lance said, leaning against the counter, taking a sip of his coffee, he looked bright and chipper that morning and Keith could see that the idea of him going to see his family was an exciting prospect for him. Keith couldn’t help but smile a bit in return. “I’m excited to hang out with all my siblings and cousins again. I haven't seen them in a long time.”

“That’s cool,” Keith responded. He didn’t work in the mornings, but he was a bit of a caffeine addict and needed his daily dose in the morning. ”I’m happy for you.”

Lance smiled brightly and nodded, taking another sip from his drink. “What are you doing for the holidays?”

Keith shrugged. “Be at home. Work. We’re celebrating this year with Adam and Shiro. So, you know, that’ll be fun.”

Lance beamed. “That’s cool.”

Keith nodded and he seemed a bit nervous, he kept tapping his fingers against his cup of coffee, his black eyes flicking over to his backpack that sat beside his feet behind the counter. “Um..” Keith seemed reluctant and his cheeks began to dust pink in embarrassment at what he was planning to do. What he had _already_ done. “So… I got you something. A present.” Keith put his drink down on the counter as he squat down and began to open up his backpack and pulled out a poorly wrapped box. It was wrapped in a black metallic type wrapping paper, it was twelve inches in length and Keith found himself thinking this was probably going to be the dumbest present in the world. He handed it to Lance.

Lance blinked in surprise as he put his own drink down beside Keith’s and took the present from Keith silently and slowly a grin came on his face. “I got you something too, man,” Lance said. He put the boc down and pulled his backpack off of his shoulders and reached in and pulled out a box of his own, then, another. Two presents and Keith felt his heart skip a beat because you don’t just get someone more than _one_ present, yet here was Lance, presenting him with _two._  

They were wrapped perfectly, like Lance had spent his time wrapping Keith’s presents. 

“Oh,” Keith said with a bit more blush rising in his cheeks. “Thank you…” 

Together, the two college students opened up their gifts and Keith was a bit touched by what he saw and a bit… underwhelmed. Not because of the present itself but because it was the exact _same gift_ that he got Lance.

Lance looked up from his gift and Keith made eye contact with him and both started laughing in mild amusement. “Well this is unexpected,” Lance said grinning.

The gift that the two friends had bestowed upon each other was a portable coffee cup that was black and had glitter, like it was the stars, and said **YOU ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD**.

“Very,” Keith agreed looking at the cup. “Now we have matching coffee cups.” 

Lance touched a hand to his heart. “We can drink coffee together in class!” Lance said excitedly beaming. 

“Oh my gosh,” Keith mumbled with a small chuckle.

Lance chuckled and beamed brightly looking at Keith as he held his coffee cup to his chest like he absolutely adored the gift. “Open the cup. There’s another present inside.” 

Keith looked at the cup and he silently opened it up out of the box it was in, he pulled the cup out. It felt a little heavier then how Keith remembered it felt in his hands when he was at Target buying the gift. When he opened the cup he saw there was some black material inside and Keith pulled it out, figuring out it was an apron… that said **KISS THE BARISTA**.

“I’m not wearing this,” Keith declared, putting it in his lap. 

“Why not?” Lance asked, laughing. “I saw it and I thought of you

“I’m not flattered.” Keith picked up the other present and noticed it was significantly smaller, like it held jewelry or something inside. Keith thought Lance got him a gag gift, women’s earrings or something but when he opened the box he saw it was a bracelet, but different than what he was originally expecting.

It was a rope bracelet and it had little beads that represented the planets. Lance leaned forward and pointed out the different planets and saying what stone was representing what planet. He pulled it out of the box quietly, putting his cup down and put it around Keith’s wrist and tightened it, making sure the bracelet wouldn’t slip off his hand. “And,” Lance said when he got it on, “the sun isn’t on the bracelet because _you_ are the sun.”

Keith groaned. “That is so cheesy.”

Lance laughed and turned his head when Krolia said that the two of them should get going to class or they would be late. That was when their moment ended.

That day after school, Keith had work and he found himself being a little down while he worked. Lance wasn’t around for the first time and Keith hadn’t realized it until that moment that Lance hanging around the place was something that Keith looked forward to. He liked when after closing the two of them could just mess around with each other and now… Lance wasn’t there.

Keith was washing the blender and the other utensils that people used for their dessert products that they bought to eat in the shop. The shop was silent, the only sound being the water running.

Krolia walked in silently, her phone in hand and she looked at Keith, seeming to notice that something was up with him. Keith was always upset, that never changed, but this time his mood was different it was more… _melancholy_.

“You have a crush on that boy don’t you?” Krolia asked Keith, looking at him as he continued to wash the dishes silently. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned on the wall by the sink. 

“I thought mothers had an intuition,” Keith said, continuing to scrub on one of the trays that had a dried frosting stain on it. “Can’t you figure it out?” Keith’s cheeks had turned red at the question, because no he didn’t have _crush_ on Lance. That was _ridiculous._

Krolia was quiet for a moment as she continued to watch her son and a slow smile spread on her lips as she watched Keith, a sly look passing in her eyes. “You’re in love with him aren’t you?”

Keith didn’t respond.

Because she was _right_. He had known it for a while… he just couldn’t find it in himself to try and ask Lance on a date. So instead, he thought giving Lance the coffee cup would explain it.  

He hadn’t told Lance, but he had put a letter in the cup. It was a simple but effective one.

He just hoped Lance wouldn’t reject him.

* * *

 

**The letter:**

_Dear Lance,_

_Merry Christmas._

_So, this may have came as a complete surprise to you. I just didn’t want you to read it in front of me because I knew you were either going to either tear this up in front of me or worse. So, I figured you should open this in your own time._

_I’m not sure how to phrase this, but I’ll try. I’ll be blunt._

_I have a crush on you._

_Well, not a crush. I really like you. A lot. More than a crush would feel like._

_I’m not sure how you feel but that’s how I’m feeling. Now, before you try to call me, please don’t. I’d rather wait for you to tell me to my face instead of over the phone._  

_Have a good holiday, Lance._

_Sincerely, Keith_

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of people asked for a chapter two, so I guess it became a thing ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Enjoy!

Lance showed Veronica the letter first. 

Lance hadn’t opened the cup until he had arrived at home. He had intended to make himself a cup of coffee, at three in the morning, as one does, when he suddenly saw a piece of paper that had been sitting in his **YOU ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD** coffee cup that he had received from Keith the previous day.

Lance hadn’t been able to show his appreciation for the present he received; not to the full extent that he wanted to anyway. If Lance did, he would’ve ended up revealing how terrible his crush on Keith had became. Lance wasn’t sure if he could label it as a _crush_ at this point, it had developed way more than just a _crush_ . Keith and Lance had grown closer to each other as the months had passed and Lance… _adored every second of it._

It was an envelope that just simply said Lance’s name on it with a poorly drawn Christmas tree on the front of the envelope. Lance, after spending plenty of time in his classes with the young college student, had learned to recognize that this was Keith Kogane’s penmanship. It was terrible and Lance was pretty sure he was blessed with some sort of abnormal superpower, because no other human on the planet was able to read his handwriting.

It was about half past three in the morning already and Lance’s entire family was already in bed, as they should’ve been, while Lance stood in the kitchen and opened up the letter silently and pulled out a note, it was crinkled and there wasn’t much written on the letter but when Lance read it, he felt his heart stop beating in his chest for a solid three seconds.

Then he bolted to his sister’s room. Well, their _shared_ room. Lance and Veronica McClain were only a few years apart and ever since Lance was born, his sister Veronica had the honor to share a bedroom with her little brother. Lance always looked up to Veronica for as long as he could remember. She worked at NASA as a mechanical engineer and Lance had been watching her grow into that person and such a successful person at that.

At a young age, she had always told Lance that he could reach for the moon and stars. So, he decided to take that literally.

Lance jumped onto the bed where his sister was lying, dead asleep, her hair a jumbled mess and snoring softly into her pillow. Her glasses were still on her face, since she had fallen asleep while her and her brother had been in the middle of watching a documentary of how the moon landing was a hoax by the government, a classic conspiracy.

“Veronica, Veronica, Veronica!” Lance whispered furiously, shaking his sister aggressively, trying to wake her up. “Wake up! This is super important!” he whisper yelled.

Veronica groaned, her short hair messy as she picked up her head and squinted at Lance in the dark room, scowling in annoyance. “ _What do you want?_ ” she hissed at him. “I thought we talk about this, Lance,” Veronica said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes behind her glasses. “Don’t interrupt my sleep and I’ll stop stealing your face masks.”

Lance, for once in his life not caring about the fact that Veronica was probably going to steal his face cream and masks that he bought for himself, shoved the letter into her face, causing the McClain girl to lean back because of the close proximity the letter was in. “Look at this!” Lance hissed. His face was red, his heart was racing in his chest and his hands were shaking, clearly unsure what he was supposed to do in this situation.

_Because Keith Kogane liked him._

Way more than the moody teen would have ever liked to admit.

Veronica, though, had ruined the moment by squinting her eyes at the letter, unable to see because of how dark it was in the room. “What is that?” she asked, her voice groggy. “Did you print that out? You know how mom is about the ink.” Veronica’s face changed and she started mimicking how their mother reacted whenever anybody in the house used the printer. “ _¿Sabes cuánto cuesta la tinta? Todos ustedes siempre están haciendo-”_

Lance covered his hand over his sister’s mouth in annoyance. He could hear his mom rant another day about how him and Veronica were just always pegging her for money. “Shut up,” Lance said. “No, I didn’t print this out.” Lance dropped his hand and reached out to Veronica’s beside drawer and flicked on the lamp silently.

Their room was illuminated and Lance was able to finally get a better view of his sister who was looking at him with a dead look on her face and bag under her eyes showing how tired she really was.

Veronica and Lance’s room was practically cut in half. The left half of the room belonged to Veronica and the right side belonged to Lance. On Lance’s side everything was nice and neat, contrary to how most people thought boys were: messy. Veronica seemed to have taken on the dirty gene. Her stuff was thrown everywhere. Her desk was covered in papers and junk from when she was in high school and never cleaned up. 

The two siblings had gotten into plenty of arguments because of Veronica’s messiness, but Lance loved her nonetheless. 

Veronica ripped the paper out of Lance’s hands and looked at it quietly, trying to read the contents of the letter, but was unable to because of Keith’s terrible handwriting. “What the heck is this?” Veronica asked and scowled, looking over at Lance. “Is this like a random letter or something?”

Lance shook his head. “It was in that cup I got from that guy I told you about. Keith?”

“Keith wrote you this?” Veronica asked, raising both her eyebrows, looking at her little brother very surprised to find out this information. “It looks like a psycho wrote this.” She passed the letter back to Lance and laid back silently, a yawn escaping her lips and she covered her mouth. Sleep clearly wanted to take over the older girl but she was somehow managing to stay up, understanding that her little brother was in a crisis. 

Lance took the letter from Veronica’s hands. “He _is_ a psychopath.” Lance sighed, his eyes scanning over the letter’s contents once again, running one hand through his hair again. 

Veronica rolled her hand for Lance to speak. “Well?” She asked with an eye roll. “What does the note say?”

Lance wasn’t even sure how to begin.

Veronica and Lance had rode together on the same flight to Varadero, Cuba and Lance had ended up talking about Keith the entire flight. Veronica and Lance already talked a lot, the two siblings had a close bond with each other, but this time Lance felt like he spilt his whole guts out. Before that conversation, he had never admitted that he was probably in love with Keith. He just kept it to himself, he bottled up his emotions… 

Like he _always_ did.  

“Lance,” Veronica said with a threatening note in her voice, “if you don’t say anything, I’m going back to sleep.”

Lance sighed and he pushed a hand through his hair. Then he read the note aloud to Veronica, who looked like she was indeed about to pass out, “Dear Lance-”

“How formal,” Veronica interrupted, instantly. Lance realized this was how he was going to have to deal with Veronica by waking her up, her having little commentary after every word he spoke. “I love it.” 

“Can you shut up?” Lance said with a sigh. “Veronica, I’m serious. This is… _insane_ . I don’t know if Keith is pranking me or something. This is _insane_.” 

“What did he say?” Veronica asked. 

“Well, if you maybe shut up I could _get there_ ,” Lance hissed at her, just a bit more aggressively then he attend.

“Okay, geez,” Veronica shook her head and yawned once more, pushing herself up to sit and crossing her legs together as she looked at her younger brother. “Tough crowd.”

Lance continued to read the letter aloud. His heart was racing faster with each word he spoke and the young McClain was trying to keep his shaking to a bare minimum. His mind was racing and he was practically reading it numbly at this point, in fear for what could be happening.

Lance… couldn’t believe the words he was reading. Lance had been crushing on Keith for god knows how long and Keith suddenly came up and said he was reciprocating those feelings.

For as long as Lance could remember, things never really went his way. He wasn’t sure it was bad luck or what, but things always went wrong in his life. He never got the girl, he never got the role, he never got the acceptance, he never got the trophy or anything good. Lance was… the background character. Even in his own life story.

The idea that something finally went right in his life blew his mind because… It felt like it should’ve been impossible.

“Lance!” Veronica practically screamed once he finished reading the letter, landing a punch on Lance’s shoulder, causing him to wince in pain. “Oh my gosh! He _likes_ you!”

Lance winced, rubbing his shoulder, rolling his shoulder a bit. Even though Veronica was thin, no bigger than Lance was, she knew how to throw a punch. “Yeah,” Lance said. “I got that.” There was tension in Lance’s voice and he just looked down at the letter again, anxiety creeping through him. This was a prank, there was no way he earned himself the guy he liked.

“What’s the problem?” Veronica asked. She seemed to notice how tense her brother was and sat up in the bed again, looking more awake then she had only about two minutes ago. She fixed the glasses that were sitting crookedly on her nose. “You _do_ like him, right?”

Lance slowly nodded his head. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and sighed softly and said, “Of course I do.” His words stopped like he was trying regain his train of thought and form a more coherent sentence, to show what exactly he was feeling. He couldn’t do it because... “I just…”

“Oh no.” Veronica sighed and put her chin in the palm of her hand as she looked at Lance. “Here we go.”

“This can’t be real, right?” Lance asked. He looked at Veronica, ignoring her previous comment. “I mean… this doesn’t _sound_ real.” Lance made a noise that he wasn’t sure exactly what it was, it was a gurgling groan/scream that seemed to portray what he was feeling perfectly. “But it’s Keith. Everything it says in the letter just screams _Keith_.”

“And I mean,” Veronica said as she grabbed the letter again and looked at it silently, still trying to read it, it _looks_ real. It’s written and everything. In terrible handwriting at that.”

“What do I do?” Lance asked, looking at Veronica with wide eyes. “This has never happened to me before. With a boy or a girl. What do you do when… someone _likes_ you back?” Lance may have flirted a lot but he had never been in a situation where someone actually liked what he was doing and wanted to take things to the next level… Or _any_ level for that matter.

“Tell him you like him too.” Veronica looked at Lance like it was obvious. “Like what they do in movies.”

“How do I do _that_ ?” Lance started using hand movements, like he did when he was getting anxious. “I’m going to be a mess around him not. I can’t just be like,” Lance snapped his fingers and shot finger guns at nothing in particular and tried to make his usual flirty look but was failing miserably because of how nervous he seemed to be, “ _You… are super hot._ ” Lance sighed and looked at his sister helplessly. “You get what I mean?”

Veronica looked off to the side, deadpan, then looked back at Lance. She seemed very calm and Lance appreciated her for that. If his sister was a bubbling mess like he was, nothing would get done. “When you get back home,” Veronica said slowly, putting one hand on Lance’s, “meet with him at the coffee shop.” Veronica gave Lance a sweet cheeky smile “That would be romantic because that’s where you both started having feelings for each other. Just tell him how you feel about him and… ask him on a date.”

“Ask him on a _what_?”

“Why is this freaking you?” Veronica asked, looking at Lance a bit incredulously. “I thought if you had a crush on someone you _want_ them to like you back?”

 “I do! I’m really happy he does it’s just…” Lance seemed to finally find the words, his insecurities finally getting the better of him. “Am I even good enough for him?”

That was the thing Lance kept wondering, what always held Lance back from fully moving in on Keith. Lance didn’t feel like he could ever be good enough, he was just some Cuban boy who had futile dreams to work at NASA. He wasn’t good enough and so many people have proved it to him over and over again. “Because,” Lance said, “I don’t even think I’m good enough for _myself_ . How can I be a good _boyfriend_ to him? I’m…” Lance shook his head and his head dropped down and he felt his stomach drop as well, the anxiety gone and now filled with just dread, “just a below average guy. I’m nobody’s first choice.”

The room was silent for a long moment, there was no response from Veronica and Lance had the sinking suspicion that even his sister knew he was right. Lance had never been the first choice. Not even in elementary school, nobody chose him to be on their dodgeball team, or their cliques. Lance… was the loner, as sad as it was.

 “Lance…” Veronica said. She hadn’t pulled her hand away from his and she squeezed it gently. Veronica said, “Being somebody’s first choice doesn’t always happen. Keith is choosing you to be his first choice now, because by the looks of it… you mean a lot to him. You told me a lot about Keith on the plane, but one thing you didn’t tell me was probably some of the big revealing secrets you guys learned about each other and the way you both have came all this way to trust each other way more than you both have ever been able to trust someone in the past.” Veronica sighed softly and slowly Lance looked up to her, meeting her dark brown eyes. “I have never been anyone’s first choice either Lance, but that doesn’t mean you can let that burden you. Because at the end of the day, no one else’s opinion is going to matter. The only one that does is your own.” Veronica paused for a moment, as if to let the words sink in. Then she asked the question that was going to make Lance rethink _everything._ “Are you your own first choice?”

Lance didn’t respond at first because the simple answer was… _no_. Lance didn’t trust himself no matter how badly he wanted to. He was too reckless he was so out of his head half the time that he knew why he wasn’t anyone’s first choice. That didn’t mean he liked it though.

 “I want to be,” Lance said after a long moment. “I really do.”

 Veronica smiled fondly at Lance and nodded her head softly, seeming to be okay with that answer. “Then make it happen,” she said with an affirmative nod of her head. “Become your own first choice.”

 

* * *

 

Lance didn’t tell Keith when he was returning home. Two weeks had passed since winter break had begun and Lance and Keith had been texting each other nonstop everyday since Lance had left. Lance never once brought up the letter though, thankfully. If Lance had, Keith would’ve ended up not responding back to any of the Cuban boy’s messages. Instead Lance had been texting him pictures of him with his siblings and cousins and sending him videos of Cuba. Keith had never really traveled outside of the U.S. so it was really interesting to learn what was outside the country through someone like Lance.

It was a Sunday afternoon at _Legendary Coffee_ and Krolia had asked Keith to head into work today despite the fact that the shop was closed that day.

“I just need you to do a quick inventory check,” she said sitting in the dining room on her laptop. “I’ll pay you overtime.”

The fact Keith was going to get paid more was the only reason he agreed to going in the first place. Checking inventory was the job Keith always dreaded doing but knew it was also the only job that let him be alone on his own. As he did the job, he kept his phone close to him, in case Lance or his mother decided to call him. Not that Keith minded if Lance texted/called him or not, he was with family after all but… it would still bum Keith out.

Keith worked spolo for a couple of hours, writing down all the inventory when he heard his phone buzz on the counter. He reached over and grabbed his phone seeing a text from Lance that read, _u busy?_

Keith leaned against the counter and wrote back, _is something up?_

 _r u at the coffee shop?_ Lance said, not answering Keith’s question.

Keith sighed. _ya. Y?_

_is the back door open?_

_lance…_

_is it?_

_well, yeah._

_thx_

Five minutes passed, then the back door opened up and revealed Lance just wearing a long sleeved navy blue shirt and jeans. His hair had been recently cut and he had a cup of coffee in his hands, the cup that Keith had given him for Christmas and saw he was smiling real big, his other hand holding a piece of paper that Keith realized was the letter he had given him. Keith tensed up.

“You have terrible handwriting,” Lance said and took a sip of his drink and sighed a bit as he entered the building and shut the door behind him. “Like… it’s very depressing how bad your handwriting is.”

Keith opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out.

“Not that it’s a bad thing,” Lance said, rolling his hand with the note in it. “But I feel bad for teachers who have to read your free response questions.I bet they have pity on you because of how bad it is and just count those questions right.”

Keith shook his head, confused. “Are you roasting me right now?” Keith scoffed. “I haven’t seen you in two weeks and this is the welcome I get?”

Lance smiled at Keith, giving a sweet cheeky smile and he chuckled with a small shrug. “I had to hold that in for two weeks. There was no way I was just going to let you get away with this excuse of what you call handwriting,” Lance said waving the not in front of Keith’s face. “A kindergartener writes better than you do.”

“Okay,” Keith said holding his hands up in surrender. “You got me. I have terrible handwriting.” Keith smiled, only a bit. “Is that all your here to say?”

Keith’s heart was racing in his chest. For two weeks he had been anticipating and dreading this conversation with Lance. Keith had hoped that he had been able to read Lance correctly, Lance was like an open book. He flirted with Keith openly and hopefully, if it wasn’t some sort of joke, that would mean Lance would be able to return those feelings… _right?_  

Lance pondered it for a second and he opened the letter and red over it silently and a big smiled sat on his lips. “Is there something else you want me to say?” Lance asked, looking up at Keith over the paper.

Keith blushed, just a bit from the look that Lance was giving him and he felt the butterflies that had been swarming in his stomach that had been there since Lance texted him, expand. He was nervous and he didn’t know how Lance was going to react. He wanted to get this over with by now. He did his waiting, _two weeks_ of it.

“Kind of,” Keith admitted after a moment, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked up at Lance. Lance was a few inches taller than he was and Keith always felt that Lance always took advantage of that situation. It irked Keith for sure, but he kind of liked it…

 _Weirdly_.

Lance smiled and he sighed, with a small shrug. “Well, the short answer is that… I like you too.”

Keith’s heart stopped short in his chest and he felt himself start to smile but Lance stopped him, a serious expression on his face and he took Keith’s hand in his.

“But…” Lance sighed, looking like he was clearly not looking forward to this part of the conversation. “I do have an… issue I want to talk to you about,” Lance said. His usual jokester personality now gone.  

Keith looked at Lance quietly, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “What is it?”

Lance was quiet a moment before he said, “So, I’ve talked to you in the past and usually when I talk to you I try to have this like,” Lance flipped his hair dramatically, “loverboy type persona. In reality though, I’m not… really that guy?” Lance let go of Keith’s hand. “I’m… just some loser guy who has a crush on a really hot guy. And… I have issues with confidence.” Lance shrugged helplessly. “And it sucjs because I can’t put that blame on you, obviously but… you need to know. When I saw this note I thought you were messing with me. I didn’t think it was real because… nobody had ever seemed to like my advancements. Nobody has ever said they liked me and you were a first.”

Keith opened his mouth to respond, but he didn’t get to voice his thoughts as Lance kept tumbling out words, rambling to Keith who wasn’t given his chance to speak.

“When I read the letter, all I could think about was the fact that I’m not anyone’s first choice. Nobody ever really chooses me out of the countless of other options that they have. I’m a last resort option.” Lance looked pained as he spoke, a distant look casting in his dark eyes and Keith realized that this went a lot deeper than just Lance not sure how to simply ask a boy out. “It sounds depressing but that’s what I’ve always been. I saw the letter and I-“

“Lance,” Keith blurted out, the Cuban boy instantly shutting up as he looked at Keith and realized, also, that he had been rambling. “Shut up, will you?”

Lance flushed a bit and smiled embarrassed. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

It took Keith a few seconds to think of his words. “I don’t think you’re anyone’s first choice,” Keith said slowly. “No stranger is just going to see you and say, ‘if my life is on the line, he is the first guy I would ask to help me’. You are a person people remember when you want them to, for sure, but you can’t depend on that to be a first choice. There a very specific people out there in the world who would choose you as their first choice. Not just anyone will choose you because they haven’t met you but I have.” Keith reached up and cupped both of Lance’s cheeks and looked at him gently. “The people who don’t make you their first choice, though, are _idiots_. They don’t know the amazing person you are and how much you deserve the world bowing to you.

“You are my first choice, Lance McClain. You will _always_ be my first choice.”

Keith pulled Lance’s face down and presses his lips onto the Cuban’s and they kissed for the first time.

Lance’s lips were warm to the touch, thanks to the coffee he had been drinking before he had arrived. Keith had never kissed anyone before and he could feel Lance’s heart racing in his chest and Keith’s was racing just as fast, their hearts in near perfect sync with the other.

It was funny, because as far as Keith knew, he didn’t plan his first kiss to be in his mother’s coffee shop… or to _ever_ happen. It was a bit of a surprise for him but he didn’t mind. He was kissing Lance McClain after all, life only got better after a kiss with him. It wasn’t long before the two of them pulled away from each other and looked at each other, their breaths soft and light.

“You taste like coffee,” Keith commented, scrunching up his nose. He was still cupping Lance’s face and slowly he let his hands fall down to his sides.

Lance laughed, his cheeks still red and he still had one hand on Keith’s waist, his body was still pressed against Keith’s, and as Keith’s hands dropped he instead caught them in his own. “Does it taste like some legendary coffee?”

“It just tastes like coffee with a lot of sugar,” Keith corrected. His face was pink, unsure of how someone would naturally react to something that just happened like what happened with him and Lance. “And that was a terrible line.”

Lance grinned at Keith and swung their arms a bit. “So is this next one,” he said and sighed, his eyes seeming to sparkle a bit with excitement with what he was about to say next. “Will you go on a date with me.”

Keith felt himself on the verge of a smile but held back. Keith said, “Depends. What are my options?”

Lance made a face at that response but he didn’t complain over it. “You tell me,” Lance said after a moment and smiled. “Whatever it is, I'll do it. It will be our first date.” Keith could see in Lance’s eyes that he meant every word of that and it made him smile a little more at the idea that Lance did actually care enough to want to take Keith out on a date even after he had voiced all of the insecurities he felt. That made Keith love him more though.

“How about here, at the coffee shop?” Keith asked after a moment. It was a funny idea to him, they shared their first kiss at the coffee shop, what was the harm in having their first date there as well.

Lance looked surprised by Keith’s answer, like he hadn’t been expecting it. “Really?” Lance asked.

“Yeah.” Keith smiled and nodded his head. “It started with a cup of coffee, didn’t it? Why not let it end with a cup of coffee.”

“And let it begin once again with another cup of coffee.” Lance smiled back at Keith, still holding his hands.

“With _our_ coffee.” Keith said, referring to the special coffee he always made Lance, it was a special secret ingredient brew that they sold on special occasions because of how much effort it took just to make the one cup, plus it was more of a once in a lifetime opportunity drink. It was the legendary coffee, the coffee that the coffee shop was named after. Keith was always willing to make the cup for Lance though, because Lance was worth the time. Lance would always be worth to time. “Our legendary coffee.”


End file.
